HERITAGE [her-i-tji]

Warwarú is a research, media and event organization that spotlights Caribbean heritage and decolonization.

Our first project, the documentary Sombra di Koló – The Shadow of Color, explores the meaning of race and skin color as part of our colonial heritage. Are race and class connected? Does skin color matter at all nowadays? Anthropologist Angela Roe goes looking for some answers. During her road trip through across Dutch-Caribbean island Curaçao thirty Curaçaoans tell their story.

Break the Taboo

Our first project, the documentary Sombra di Koló – The Shadow of Color (2014), explores the meaning of race and skin color as part of our colonial heritage. Are race and class connected? Does skin color matter at all nowadays? Anthropologist Angela Roe goes looking for answers. During her road trip through across Dutch-Caribbean island Curaçao thirty Curaçaoans tell their story.

Sombra di Koló (The Shadow of Color) brings us into the world of thirty inhabitants of Dutch Caribbean island Curaçao, and shows what influence race and skin color have on their daily lives.

When visiting for the summer cultural anthropologist Angela Roe hears from her Curaçaoan aunt that she had best not bring home a dark skinned sweetheart. Angry and disenchanted Roe decides to investigate the underlying motives of this ‘rule:’ why has Curaçao struggled for centuries with a color hierarchy? Why is there such a strong taboo on talking about race and racism? And how do race and skin color continue to impact people today?

Her research takes her across the island, from a small village in the countryside to Spaanse Water, one of the richest neighborhoods of the island. She speaks with people about descent, class, family and Curacao’s “multicultural” society.